Anticipated benefits of cloud computing adoption in Australian regional municipal governments: an exploratory study

It is expected that computing services will increasingly be accessed as another utility a similar way to other services such as water, electricity, telephone or gas. Many organizations including government deliver their services through information and communication technology (ICT) tools including e-government. Cloud computing is a relatively new way of providing services over the internet. In this research in-depth interviews of Australian councils’ IT managers were conducted with the aim of providing insights into the perceived benefits of cloud computing adoption. The research indicated that cloud computing is seen to offer the many benefits that are identified in the research literature; additional anticipated benefits emerged which related to reduced level of risk, remote access, reduce staff, and saving time.